A SURGE of interest in local history has increased the membership of the Forest’s History Society to well over 300…and it is still growing!

Chairman Simon Moore says enquires are received almost daily, making the Forest group one of the most successful in the West of England.

And new members, he says, are more then welcome.

“It is great news and really encouraging. It gives us a much better pool of expertise with knowledge and skill to help the work of the society. I think there is always an interest in local history because it is something people can relate to, that they can see, and that they feel they can play a part in,” he said.

He believes the increasing interest is partly down to a knock-on effect from the Lottery-funded Forest­ers’ Forest project.

The society has a packed programme of winter talks and summer walks. There is a quarterly newsletter and an annual journal, The New Regard.

This Saturday, the indoor meetings are completed until the autumn when Christopher Dyer, a Professor of History in the University of Leicester, visits the West Dean Centre at Bream (3pm) to talk about the Forest in the Middle Ages.

He asks: “We know a great deal about the people of Dean and the surrounding parts of West Gloucestershire in the Middle Ages…were they different from their neighbours across the estuary, did they prosper in a woodland landscape and what was their outlook and position in society?”

Non-members are welcome.

•The first of the summer walks on May 10 will be led by Geoff Davis and will explore Lower Lydbrook and English Bicknor. Mr Davis will also lift the veil on a wartime bomber crash kept secret for many years.